The Durango High School cross-country teams ran some of their fastest times at the Class 4A state meet on Saturday in Colorado Springs. Durango also had a runner go down in each race, but they got up and finished strong to help the DHS girls finish third in the team race and the boys place seventh as a squad.
“They all put in a good effort, we just had a few misfortunes,” said DHS head coach Ron Keller.
In the girls race, senior Willow Lott led DHS with a 19th-place finish in 19:32.
After racing in state meet while sick last year, Lott knocked more than 2½ minutes off the time she ran last year to get some redemption at state.
Senior Nina Quayle also finished strong, placing 23rd in 19:41.
“Nina had a really good race,” Keller said, noting that she beat a lot of her teammates had been running ahead of her.
Sophomores Sofia Voss (19:58) and Brynn Aggeler (19:59) both ran personal bests on the Norris Penrose course and finished together in 29th and 30th.
Keller said the team started pretty well, but about 600 meters in, sophomore Dewa Ilg went down.
“She got stepped on and jumped over, but she got up,” Keller said. “She’s very tough and gave it everything she had to make a comeback.”
Ilg finished 38th in 20:16 to round out Durango’s team score. Freshman Mira Quayle finished 47th in 20:35, and senior Ayumi Lambert placed 119th in 22:03.
Summit’s Ella Hagen won the individual title in 17:48 while six runners from Niwot, the No. 2 team in the nation, finished in the top eight to grab the team title with 20 points. Battle Mountain finished second with 122, followed by Durango (134), Cheyenne Mountain (169), Palmer (174), Summit (236), Mead (243), Northfield 9270), Golden (272) and George Washington (273) in 10th out of 20.
“Third place in the state, I’m pretty pleased how they did,” Keller said. The coach, however, also said he’d like to race Battle Mountain again sometime.
In the boys championship, the coach said sophomore Luke Swenk, juniors Charlie Dillman and Brodie Dorko got out and ran in front early on.
“The boys had a great start,” Keller said. “Luke was leading the whole race at about a mile, and Charlie was with him. Luke ran with the elite kids like I want him to.”
Swenk ended up finishing 21st in 16:30 to lead DHS in his first year running high school cross-country.
Dillman finished 38th in 16:54, and Nate Ellis placed 42nd in 16:59. Both lowered the times they ran at last year’s state meet by more than 1:03.
Freshman Miles Snow also went down in the race, but got up and finished 78th in 17:41.
“17:41 is pretty good for a freshman,” Keller said. “He’s a really tough, young kid.”
Dorko finished 86th in 17:55 to round out Durango’s team score.
Junior Hudson Curry placed 96th in 18:04, and sophomore Anthony Bonnano placed 107th in 18:18.
Nolan Hoffman of Mead won the individual title in 15:31, beating Porter Middaugh of Battle Mountain by 0.30 seconds. Cheyenne Mountain won the team title with 76 points, followed by Niwot (92), Central Grand Junction (159), Eagle Valley (161), Battle Mountain (168), Coronado (192), Durango (233), Mead (250), Thompson Valley (265) and Summit (298) in 10th.
While the coach said he was happy with how the season ended, he said it had a lot of ups and downs and is looking forward to preparing for next year.
“We’re going to have to get our team together in the summer and train as a team,” Keller said. “If you don’t have dedication, you can’t go for the championships. I think both teams are excited to make that commitment.”
Senior Eppie Quintana also represented Ignacio in the Class 2A state championships. Quintana finished his prep career with a 53rd-place finish in 18:36. Jack Nauman of Heritage Christian won in 15:55, while St. Mary’s won the boys team title and Lake County took the girls. Nadhia Campos of The Vanguard School won the girls race in 18:37.
The Classical Academy, led by individual champ Chandler Wilburn (15:46), won the 3A boys team title. Alamosa won the 3A girls team title. Isabel Allori of Liberty Common won individually in 17:10.
